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Patented Nov; 4, 1919.

Fig. 1.

Inue mate 1 J. P. PEGG.

AUTOMATIC ALARM.

APPLICATION FILED APR. I0, 1918.

T STA JAMES 1?. PEGG, OF ST. OATI-IARINES, ONTARIO, CANADA.

' AUTOMATIC ALARM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 4, 1919.

Application filed April 10, 1918. Serial No. 227,816.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES P. Pnce, of the city of St. Catharines, in the county of Lincoln and Province of Ontario, Dominion of Canada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Alarms; and I hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

This invention relates to an automatically operating apparatus which can be used either for fire or burglar alarm purposes, the object of the invention being to so construct and arrange the parts that the alarm will be automatically and instantaneously sounded, as hereinafter 'set forth and particularly pointed out in the claims.

For an understanding of the invention reference is to be had to the following description and to the accompanying drawings in which 1 Figure 1, is a front elevation of the apparatus;

Fig. 2, is a vertical sectional elevation showing the parts in their normal position; and,

Fig. 3, is a similar view to Fig. 2, showing the position of the parts when the alarm is, or has been sounded.

In the construction of the apparatus, it is advisable to use an alarm shaft a which may extend from the basement to the roof of the building equipped with the apparatus, the hinge being shown at b in Figs. 1 and 2. Contained within the shaft a, at each floor of the building, is a hinged or pivoted platform I) which is normally maintained in a horizontal position within the alarm shaft.

Journaled within the alarm shaft a, above each platform I), is a drum 0, and wound on each drum is a non-fusible, non-combustible, cord, chain, or cable d, one end of which is attached to the drum and the other end of which is provided with a weight e which normally rests on, and is supported by, its respective platform I) Attached to each drum e are strikers 7 and opposed to the strikers f is an alarm s g 9- In the drawings the strikers are shown to consist of metal balls connected to the drum by short flexible chains f, and each alarm gong g is shown to consist ofa metallic plate, suspended from a hook g, in the alarm shaft a, to be struck by the strikers 7 during the revolution of the drum, but other forms of strikers and gongs, within the scope of the appended claims, may be employed in place of those shown and described.

Connected to each platform I; is one end of a Z-shaped arm 71. the other end of this arm being free to engage a flexible cord 11, which, for fire alarm purposes, is necessarily of a combustible or fusible character, and which is employed to hold the platform in a horizontal position.

Each cord 2' is looped under the free end of the arm h and passes out of the shaft a on opposite sides of, and above, the arm h, to other parts of the building, where it is suitably secured.

Appropriate guiding members 71. may be provided in the alarm shaft, and along the line of the cord, to keep it in correct position.

' For fire purposes it is preferable to locate the cord in the vicinity of the ceilings, but for burglar alarm purposes it is advisable to locate it where 1t will trip the prospective burglar, or to connect it with trip lines when it is used for fire alarm as well as burglar alarm purposes.

' So long as the cord i remains undisturbed and intact, its engagement with the free end of the arm h upholds the platform I) and maintains it in its normal position to support the weight 6, and the other weights, hereinafter described.

When the cord c is disturbed or burned it automatically becomes disengaged from the arm h, and when disengaged the free end of the platform 6 swings downwardly and allows the weight 6 to descend. The descent of the weight 6 causes the cord (5 to unwind from, and revolve the drum 0. During the revolution of the drum 6 the strikers f engage the gong g and sound the alarm.

The drawings show the alarm shaft to be equipped with two pivoted platforms and two sets of alarm apparatus, representing two floor levels 1 and 2, respectively.

In conjunction with each of these floor levels are platform releasing means, each consisting of a wire or cable k, and a weight w, resting on the platform at its respective floor level.

In the case of the floor level 1 the alarm shaft a is provided with a pulley j, above its respective platform, and passing over the pulley j is the wire or cable 70 with its respective weight w resting on the platform at the floor level 1. This wire or cable 70 passes to the floor level 2, and is attached to the cord i at the floor level 2.

When the platform at the floor level 1 is released, and turns downward, the weight w descends, and, drawing on the wire or cable is, releases the cord 2' from the free end of the arm h at floor level 2, the platform 6 at floor level 2 then turning and permitting the weight e at floor level 2 to descend and cause the revolution of its respective drum. Similar means may be employed for releasing the platform at floor level 1 when the platform at floor level 2 is released, and thus sound the alarm simultaneously at each floor level.

Various means for quenching the fire and transmitting the alarm to outside points, may be used in conjunction with the alarm apparatus above described.

As illustrative of means transmitting the alarm to outside points, the platform may. be provided with a switch 2 brought into engagement with the contact points y, y when the platform is released, to complete the circuit from the battery conductor to to the conductor w leading to a signal apparatus w.

Having thus fully described the nature of my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. An automatic alarm apparatus comprising a pivoted platform, destructible means supporting the platform in a'normal position, a revoluble drum, flexible means wound on said drum, a weight suspended from the flexible means and normally resting on the pivoted platform to cause the revolution of said drum when the platform is released, strikers connected with the revoluble drum, and a gong engaged by the strikers.

2. An automatic alarm apparatus comprising a pivoted platform, releasable means supporting the platform in a' normal position, a revoluble drum, flexible means wound. on said drum, a weight suspended from the flexible means and normally resting on the pivoted platform to cause the revolution of said drum when the platform is released, strikers connected with the revoluble drum, and a gong engaged by the strikers.

3. An automatic alarm apparatus comprising a pivoted platform, destructible means supporting the platform in a normal position, a revoluble drum, flexible means wound on said drum, a weight suspended from the flexible means and normally resting on the pivoted platform to cause the revolution of said drum when the platform is released, strikers connected with the revoluble drum, a gong engaged by the strikers, and means for automatically and simultaneously disengaging the platform supporting means at all of the floor levels when disengaged at one or more of the floor levels.

4. An automatic alarm apparatus comprising a pivoted platform, releasable means supporting the platform in a normal position, a revoluble drum, flexible means wound on said drum, a weight suspended from the flexible means and normally resting on the pivoted platform to cause the revolution of said drum when the platform is released, strikers connected with the revoluble drum, a gong engaged by the strikers, and means for automatically and simultaneously disengaging the platform upporting means at all of the floor levels when disengaged at one or more of the floor levels.

5. An automatic alarm apparatus comprising a pivoted platform, destructible means supporting the platform in a normal position, and signal means actuated by the release of the platform.

6. An automatic alarm, comprising an alarm shaft, a hinged platform therein, a combustible cord detachably connected to the platform normally holding it in a horizontal position and extending beyond the shaft, a drum journaled in the shaft, a weight resting on and supported by the platform when in its horizontal position, a non combustible cord, attached to the weight and wound on the drum, said drum being rotated by the unwinding of the cord, duringthe descent of the weight, when the platform moves from a horizontal position, an alarm, and strikers connected to the drum to sound the alarm, during the revolution of the drum.

St. Catharines, March 12th, 1918.

JAMES P. PEGG.

Signed in the presence of- EDWARD S. BERNSTEIN, CHAS. H. Rrcnns.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

1 Washington, D. G. Y 

